Hubby and I with our children, C and C have been immersed in anti-racist work, promoting critical thinking to deconstruct our biases and prejudices since 1992 when the riots broke in Koreatown and South Central.
A year before that in 1991, I was immersed in doing the first Leadership Training in Interethnic Relations by then Asian Pacific American Legal Center. Those were tense uncomfortable moments of learning for me to see all of us confront our internal biases and prejudices. I had hoped by now we have moved the pendulum on this.
Hubby has developed a curriculum on teaching Race, Racism and Critical Thinking and have taught that course for decades, before becoming Professor Emeritus at CSUN.
A good friend just promoted to me and another friend to watch a tv show on #BLM, at 5pm, a redo of a prior show that a tv host did since she got lots of criticisms for not doing the proper work on this issue. How irresponsible is it to air your show without proper content depth from adequate research?
Folks, lives are at stake. We cannot be lazy and delegate the content work of scrubbing out the racist prejudices and biases out of our hearts, minds, souls, molecules and say hurtful, inflammatory garbage on television or worst, in our real lives. These are #unacceptablebehaviors to profit from our lazy minds and unconscious behaviors.
If the Catholic bishops, priests and even Pope Francis are being humble in saying their past actions were wrong in covering up sexual abuse wrongdoings, I truly appreciate now how some are taking a knee to join blacks in their sufferings. Thank you for your enlightened spiritual leadership!
We too must call out unacceptable behaviors of journalists who say inflammatory words because of their anti-Black prejudices and say, what you did was wrong!
It reminded me of how years ago, this Filipina immigrant anchor asked a white gay male on her tv panel if being gay can be prayed away. He responded with a logic, so compelling: “J, can you pray away being straight?”
She went gaga over it, paused in silence. Then, she used an edited version of that gay awareness show segment, edited out her prejudiced questions and went on to receive a pioneering community awareness award from the #lgbtq community. Her content panel was curated by me, who personally begged my friends to be interviewed, to help educate our community. I am not asking for credit, just stating facts.
We must not delegate our personal work of being aware and conscious of our biases, we must do the personal critique to challenge and get rid of them. We must do the dirty work of scrubbing out our own prejudices and biases from our human personas so we may not hurt others by our biases.
The brilliant white gay man whom I respect is now dead and his death anniversary was celebrated in May by his loving Filipino gay husband. I loved them both but something got in the way of our friendship. May you rest in peace JD!! – I think of you when I take a stand on moral righteousness. I know you are looking down on us as one of our Angels!
P.S. Amy walked by holding her sign, doing her own work that “we are in this together,” and she does this at busy corners. I told her how we have been doing this for 4 decades now. She agreed to be photographed!#blacklivesmatter
Riots and Protests are happening nationwide in all 50 states of the US, abroad as well, in 20+ countries, where millions gathered in Amsterdam, millions protested in France, as thousands in London, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy and more.
Other countries are laughing at America, as in the height of the protests over George Floyd, murdered in cold blood by 4 policemen in uniform, the 45th US President sheltered himself in the bunkers, located in the White House basement.
Trump has ordered the construction of walls around the White House, once known as the people’s house by the Obamas, who were visited by millions in 8 years, to towering 13 foot high walls surrounding its perimeter, similar to the walls of Jerusalem surrounding Palestine.
Trump was deemed to have constructively resigned and rightly so, from the right, George Will and from the left, Robert Reich. He was unable to provide responsible leadership to the Coronavirus pandemic – US has 107, 468 deaths since Jan.22, 2020, as the nationwide multicultural protests demanding justice for #GeorgeFloyd, has lasted for several days.
He reappeared the next day, followed by the Secret Service who unleashed violence on the nonviolent citizens, assembled in Lafayette Park.
Without provocation, these armed Secret Service personnel illegally used their batons hurled tear gas bombs, including the use of Black Hawk helicopters to disperse folks gathered inside the park, including those who identified themselves as members of the media.
It was naked brute force and frivolous and gratuitous use of violence to clear the park, so that the President can have his photo taken, holding up the bible as his props. Brazen and unconscionable!
As a Jesuit priest, I stand in solidarity with the people lost to armed violence this year, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many others. I stand with those who stood with them in life and with those who now stand with them in death.
Fr. James Martin
Racism as St. John Paul II said, is one of the most “persistent and destructive evils” in the United States. And I have to acknowledge my own participation in it.
Racism is, as, the Rev. Bryan Massingale, a Catholic theologian, says, a sickness of the soul. This sickness has been spread since the first Africans were forcibly brought to America and sold as slaves 400 years ago. Our nation is one founded and continuously shaped by white supremacy.“White supremacy,” writes Father Massingale, “fundamentally is the assumption that this country, its political institutions, its cultural heritage, its social policies and its public spaces belong to white people in a way that they do not belong to others. It is the basic assumption that some naturally belong in our public and cultural space and others have to justify being there. Further, it is the suspicion that those ‘others’ are in ‘our’ space only because someone has made special allowances for them.”- Fr. James Martin
Our #crazyrichasians 51st high school reunion. Full of joy, walking for miles and miles, eating, artworks seen all around the city, fresh flowers surrounding you. What a great, healthy, livable, walkable, orderly, clean and plant-based nutrition at most places. Toronto, Ontario. Our host, Seny Reyes Zamora, gave us the red carpet welcome treatment.
She singlehandedly cooked and prepared 8 courses, including dessert, brazo de Arsenia, a very delicate one and went to Chinatown twice to get us our favorites: lanzones, atis, mangoes and mangosteen. When we were looking for more of the brazo, it was magically gone to some other classmates’ tummy. That is how much we loved her cooking! Elizabeth Cortez, another Canadian host, picked up classmate Beth Aspiras, brought turon dessert and led us in a brisk walking of their underground city, 3.7 miles in one day.
Prior day – we walked two miles. All in all this reunion got us into doing something we were uncomfortable with: walking long miles briskly, knowing GPS, and travelling alone by oneself. It is what we challenge ourselves with each reunion – for each of us to evolve and to grow healthier. Some of these lolas aka grandmothers have fake knees, meaning they have now been replaced to keep them moving after the original parts have worn out. Yet, even with their physical ailments, their smiles will not reveal their limitations at all. One is even injecting herself with insulin to keep her blood sugar level, yet, you will not hear her complain at all. Another had an aching back, a prelude to gallstones being an issue for her, yet again, with no complaints and simply kept going and walking. Another had episodes of rapid heartbeat yet, she kept going. Now, she found the right heart medication and no more episodes after this trip to the Niagara Falls.
It is as if God gave us all a challenge and because of our optimism and goodnaturedness, most of the physical ailments got resolved after this Canadian trip. Imagine these grandmas braving the rains, driving 10 hours one way from Chicago to Toronto, and another 10 hours to return from Toronto to Chicago, with a stop at another classmate’s house in Michigan. I am in awe of their fearless, adventuresome spirits! They are strong, fierce, loving women with such generosity of spirits! I am in awe of their bravery and courage, their deep faith in God which fuels them to be optimistic, positive and cheerful. Oh of course, we had 5% drama, but the beauty of being grandmothers, we can choose to be noble so after a temper tantrum (of all issues, Trump as few of my classmates are die-hard supporters of Trump, as some of us are die-hard supporters of Obama), one chose to distract us all by changing the topic and another was so brave, she sat down with the grievance-venting group and got them to change their moods. Since I am the obvious die-hard of Obama, I went to the Trumpie supporter and told her –
“Our friendship will outlast any political figure in office. We are bound by our love for St. Rita.”
She gave me her biggest smile and in our goodbyes, we hugged tightly. We are looking forward to our 9th reunion in Dec. 2018.Thank you for making this a very joyful reunion, my 8th now!
My otherwise unhealthy outdoors, literally from the invisible Coronavirus, now with 6, 129, 740 new cases and 370, 854 deaths in 188 countries. In the US, 1, 780, 897 new cases and 104, 115 deaths since Jan. 22, 2020. Today marks 85 days of #socialdistancing for me. In California, there are 110,039 cases and 4, 146 deaths while NY has 370, 770 cases and 29, 784 deaths. Staying home, wearing masks and social distancing have saved lives.
Until George Floyd’s life was taken by Minneapolis’ policemen. Folks in two days had protested and yesterday, the peaceful protests went on for five hours but turned ugly towards the end. Supposedly agent provocateurs catalyzed the looting, destruction of retail stores, vandalism and others blindly followed leading to the burning of three police cars, a bus, with helicopters flying until 1 am in our neighborhood near the Grove.
I’m absolutely convinced that a riot merely intensifies the fears of the white community while relieving the guilt. And I feel that we must always work with an effective, powerful weapon and method that brings about tangible results. But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.
Martin Luther King, Jr. “The Other America” (1968)
Indoors, today, I choose to be healthy. I say thanks first to my hubby’s freshly prepared orange juice, from oranges sweetly delivered to us, courtesy of a very good friend who braved the streets yesterday to travel from Eagle Rock to where we live. Thank you Nonoy Alsaybar! A young Filipina woman braved the freeways yesterday to deliver @lennysweets of 2 boxes, 24 pieces of #ubepandesalwithcheese – down to 2 now, as 12 were given to my #princess2015la; these were solicited, paid orders to help a #smallbusiness. Then, another warmhearted good friend delivered #ubehalya to our doorsteps, a beautiful gesture from his mother’s heart, thank you so much Amelia Sebastian and Joel Vera Sebastian!
Sweetest strawberries and oranges personally delivered by our long time, unselfish good friend who generously gives us his gifts of time, attention and fruits. Thank you our #earthangelNonoy Alsaybar!
Three beautiful spirits of three Filipinos warm my heart this am, actually five, and their brave loving gestures that I store in my heart while reading the aftermath of May 30, 2020 riots erupting over the flagrant, cold-blooded murder of George Floyd, by a blue uniformed policeman pressing his knee down on George’s neck for 8 1/2 minutes, while 3 other policemen watched. Longer than cooking a ramen egg for 6 minutes, choking out the breath in this man, a beautiful gentle soul so loved by his community and family for how he helped them and sang to them. Washington Post tweeted this: “It wasn’t the windpipe. It was the compression of the carotid and the vagus nerves for 9 minutes by police that caused his heart to stop along with the other 2 officers on his back compressing his chest and ribs while the 4th stood guard. It was a planned and controlled murder.”-Ginny https://t.co/qAIqY05MMh
On April 29, 1992, our neighborhood was surrounded by fires in the north, east and south when the Black – Korean conflicts erupted in Los Angeles and got more on fire after the policemen beating Rodney King to a pulp were found not guilty. Until a civil trial found these rogue thugs of policemen culpable and the city had to pay millions in civil penalties to Rodney King. The civil trial was headed by an adept mediator, Ester Soriano Hewitt, who was its civil jury foreperson. How do I know? She then talked to a number of press folks and I became her Girl Friday, ushering press folks to talk to her in my backyard. We have learned multiculturalism in our communities, but our rogue police forces have yet to internalize that we are #nothuntedprey but citizens to be protected and served. The biggest looters of our national treasury are in the Republican tenant in the White House, his own businesses, his friends’ businesses, in the Republican members of the Senate, in the Sec. of Treasury Mnuchin who parceled out taxpayers’ hard earned dollars to big businesses, big hotels, big restaurants, actions that continue to prey on our psyches and national harmony as blatant injustices.
Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s always still in the air.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Gov. Andrew Cuomo described it as decades and decades of a continuum of injustice by the justice system in America against African Americans.
Our mornings start early now as our grandchild comes for her summer lessons with her Lolo. Yesterday, it was about numbers. Today is an activity or a project to solidify what she learned yesterday. She assembled an electronic project, a drawing robot.
Breakfast was spam musubi. Each person prepared however they wanted it. She was so excited to put them together. And, asked for more. All gone, just like that!
“Grandma, I am a vegetarian.”
Me: That’s why I sliced cucumbers into spears for you.
P: Grandma, I don’t like cucumbers. I like broccoli.
Me: So, you are a broccoterian.
P: “Broccoterian? I am a vegetarian. I eat broccoli.”
A long pause.
P: I also eat cauliflower Grandma.
Me: That’s why, for lunch, you have vegetable lumpia, which you asked me to make yesterday.
I am out of wrappers, half of Tropics brand was messed up. Wishing for a Menlo brand to wrap the rest. She comes down and describes the videos of unicorn slime. Then, she directed her grandpa to do ukelele lessons. She determines her curriculum for the day, with preparations in advance, anticipating what she needs for the day.
“Grandma, I am hungry. I have not eaten breakfast.”
Me: So how about ube pancakes and bacon?
P: “I like that. Can I have mango too?”
She ate a heart-shaped ube pancake, a half moon pancake, a whole mango and two pieces of bacon.
I told her she is a very patient girl.
“Grandma, I am patient.”
Me: I noticed that when you asked to fix breakfast you waited until I was done. She smiled.
By the art wall where she did her imaginative play, I said, “You look so pretty.”
P: “Because I like looking nice, Grandma.”
We talked about her dreams. In her dream, she chased the bad guy getting his father.
I asked, ” How do you know he is a bad guy?” The bad guy had a gun, Grandma and about to hurt my dad, but I smashed him.
I then said, “Pray to Baby Jesus to protect you always, even in your dreams.”
She then moved to do her tea cups imaginative play. She gave me spaghetti made of marbles. Later, she said, “Grandma, you are so smart, you believe in Baby Jesus.” I told her I pray to Baby Jesus each night to protect me.
After breakfast she asked her grandpa to make apple juice with her.
Do you get a sense of how she balances her time with us? But also, a very strong sense of self, how to be patient, how to look nice, how to be nice to others? I love how she is truly beautiful inside and out.
Now, Grandpa and her are out to hunt for numbers in the garden.
